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It doesn’t get much better than this. And I say that fully believing that Marvel can go even bigger, better and more exciting. If after more than ten movies deep into their film slate, Marvel can still produce something as amazing as Captain America: Civil War, then the future remains as bright as ever. This is the epic, spectacular, big bombast superhero movie that Marvel has been building towards all these years.

Movie Rating: 9/10 – Great.

Captain America: Civil War is a glorious mix of spectacle and drama, combining some of the most touching and important character work in the entire franchise with quite possibly the greatest bout of superhero action to ever grace the silver screen. The centerpiece ‘war’ between heroes at the abandoned airport is worth the price of admission alone. It’s worth of price of admission to every Marvel movie we’ve seen so far, building on almost each and every film to instill real emotional heft to these characters and their punches.

When Captain American, Iron Man and their allies face off in Civil War, there is real history behind it. We’ve seen the previous movies. We’ve seen the friendships and rivalries grow and build and strain. We’ve seen Steve Rogers and Tony Stark get testy in The Avengers. We’ve watched Black Widow’s character arc from the sidelines of other movies. We’ve seen Ant-Man consider calling the Avengers for help. This has been a journey.

Civil War is a movie for Marvel fans, for the people who have seen all their movies and probably held mini-marathons to gear up for this new one. It’s not ashamed of that focus, and it shouldn’t be. Marvel is producing a masterpiece on a scale never before imagined, and they’re pulling it off with such skill and excitement that I almost feel bad for other movies.

Like, do any of the previous Spider-Man movies even matter anymore? Batman v. Superman surely doesn’t.

Join me after the jump for the full review. There will be SPOILERS for Captain America: Civil War.

Last week, I was all about the Marvel Comics. Not intentional, that’s just how things played out. Well this week, I’m apparently all about the Bat-Family. Not only do we have new issues of Robin War, including the Gotham Academy tie-in, but Dick Grayson guest stars in the latest issue of Starfire for no particular reason!

Heck, I could have gone really heavy into the Bat Family, but I haven’t caught up to Batman and Robin Eternal yet, and I didn’t feel like passing judgement on the latest issue of Scott Snyder’s Batman (though, if I may say, I’m absolutely loving their use of Duke Thomas). Still, we’ve got a very nice selection of Batty books this week, including the Comic Book of the Week: Grayson #15!

New series?

It’s a great time to be a Dick Grayson fan, I tell you what.

Also, don’t forget that my own comic, Gamer Girl & Vixen, is on sale now from our online store! Pick up a copy, support your local henchman, and the world will be a better place overall!

Marvel (with a little help from Bleeding Cool) has finally revealed their plans for the X-Men in their big relaunch this fall. There are still going to be a ton of X-Men comics, starring a variety of X-characters, with some new writing blood behind the wheel. I can’t necessarily say that any of these titles interest me right away, but I’ll probably give them all a chance.

The big news is that something has happened between mutants and the Inhumans that has them at odds, or at the very least, is shaping what this relaunch is going to be all about. We know that Marvel really wants the Inhumans to take over from the X-Men, but we’ll see how far they take that. Other important developments include the fact that the Young X-Men are still around, Cyclops has gone missing and Beast has taken sides with the Inhumans. Also, no sign of Multiple Man anywhere, in case you were as eager as me.

Extraordinary X-Men

Jeff Lemire and Humberto Ramos will launch a new X-title featuring old characters, and will tackle the Inhuman problem head on. Their team will include Storm, Iceman, Magik, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Young Jean Grey and Old Man Logan, who is coming to the Marvel Universe following Secret Wars.

Uncanny X-Men

All-New X-Men

Dennis Hopeless and Mark Bagley will get to take over the Young X-Men, in a series starring the remaining teen heroes (minus Jean Grey), along with X-23. Word has it they’re going to all pile into a van to cruise around searching for their destiny.

Honestly, a ton of Marvel titles are dropping now, probably not necessarily at the speed Marvel wants. But that’s what Bleeding Cool does. Check out this Reddit megathread to find links to all of the announcements. There will be new comics for Daredevil, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Carnage, Silk, the Uncanny Avengers, Angela and many more. In fact, there’s also going to be a new Karnak solo series written by Warren Ellis. My brother will be excited to hear that.

Basically, there’s a whole lot of fun coming out of Marvel in the fall. Though I can’t say that anything has really caught my eye. I like Jeff Lemire and Humberto Ramos, but I can’t say as how I like any of those X-Men due to their heavy anti-Cyclops feelings as of late. I think those evil Uncanny guys could be fun, but it’s drawn by Greg Land. None of those solo superhero are any of my favorites either. Lots of neat stuff, and I’ll probably check a bunch of them out, but nothing has really hit me like lightning so far.

But there’s still time! And more comics to be announced!

What do you henchies think of these new X-Men comics? Or any of these new titles? Let me know in the comments!

Avengers: Age of Ultron is like a new episode of the biggest, most expensive TV show of all time. It’s not the event that the first movie was, and it might not be as Earth-shattering as I expected, but Age of Ultron is nonetheless a fun, exciting and action-packed movie starring all of our favorite superheroes. And therein lies my biggest complaint, which is really a non-complaint.

There’s a familiarity to Age of Ultron that leads to contentment. The movie doesn’t really give us anything new to get excited about, instead delivering just another solid chapter in this ongoing saga.

Movie Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

I liken Age of Ultron to a TV show because that’s exactly what it felt like while I was watching. I may have been in a packed movie theater, and it’s been three years since the last episode, but Ultron was definitely the ‘monster-of-the-week’ in the latest episode of The Avengers. All of our favorite characters are back, their friendly, comfortable banter is exactly what we’d expect, and everything is more or less tied up in a nice, tidy bow by the end. Lessons are learned, a little romance is slipped in, and now we just sit back and wait for the next episode.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way with any movie sequel before. It’s a weird feeling.

But the episodic feel doesn’t keep the movie from being entertaining. It’s an exciting film from beginning to end. In the big picture sense, the movie is amazing. But when you step back and really think about all the moving parts, it’s not without some flaws. Director Joss Whedon juggles a few too many characters, so that some get a lot of attention — like Hawkeye, in some standout moments — while others are little more than props — like Thor, who spends most of his time dropping hints about future movies.

The new characters are a mixed bag. The titular villain, Ultron, is too entertaining to be menacing. That’s an odd way to describe a super villain, but it’s exactly how actor James Spader pulls it off.

I like Age of Ultron, a lot. It’s not as good at the first Avengers film, largely because the spectacle has worn off, but also for a lot of little reasons. Yet overall, it’s another exciting film in my favorite franchise of all time, despite those little reasons.

Join me after the jump for my full, detailed review. And there will be SPOILERS!

There has been a lot of talk about the Inhumans recently, and for good reason. For one thing, they’re going to get their own big budget movie in 2018 as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For another thing, there has long been a rumor that Marvel wants to reposition the Inhumans in their comic book universe to take over for the X-Men, because FOX Studios owns the rights to the X-Men movies, and Marvel wants to find a way around that.

For the longest time, I thought this was a ridiculous idea. I’ve never been an Inhumans fan, and I thought it was just silly for Marvel to force them down our throats just to get their way and spite FOX.

But after watching the mid-season finale for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and reading Axis #7, my normally curmudgeony mind has been altered! It’s as if I’ve personally undergone comic book Terrigenesis!

Even Blackbolt cheered when Skye shot that guy!

Consider me completely on board with Marvel’s new Inhumans policies and plans. I’m a huge fan of the X-Men, but right now, they are old news. The Inhumans are the way to go, and I can’t wait to see all of Marvel’s plans come to fruition!

What the heck am I talking about? Join me after the jump to see what I mean! Oh, and SPOILERS for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Axis and Avengers: Age of Ultron!